As a research scientist with a passion for fine timepieces, I have always been watching for the watch which will best match my life and work passions. If you also fit that category, then search no further than the Rolex Milgauss, and especially the exceptional anniversary variant reference 116400GV (“glass verte”) using the green sapphire glass. It’s a watch with a exceptional history that stands out from an all too common Rolex lineup and that has been created for scientists… Let’s explore why is.While I will not give you a complete history of the Rolex Milgauss, I would like to brush the significant highlights. The Rolex website and various blog articles do a comprehensive job of documenting the history, in particular this post is just one of the better ones I have found on its own history.In a nutshell, the Rolex Milgauss Hebrew Edition Replica was introduced in the late 50’s when electricity, electronics, aeronautics, and nuclear engineering was bringing about what we currently call the technology and information revolution. As a species, we had just discovered the power of the atom, we’re finally in a place to leave mother ground (albeit for short periods of time), and the number of innovations around transmitting, storing, and transforming data, created a series of revolutions that could forever change mankind.As a consequence of this flood of invention, scientists (and generally everyone) were increasingly being exposed to magnetic fields. Not just from the tools used but also from everyday appliances like TV sets, radios, and also the numerous new electrified appliances that were making their way into households. The German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss was one of the first to explore this space and so, in his honor, the measure of magnetic flux density is a Gauss.

Obviously, the result of being exposed to so much accidental or intentional magnetic fields is that whatever you have on you which is sensitive to these fields will be affected. You also don’t need to know much about the internal workings of a mechanical watch to understand that a magnetic field is among its sworn enemies. Briefly, mechanical watches ( even the top ones) use a balance wheel containing a hairspring that’s used to regulate the movement, it’s the view’s heartbeat, if you may. Mess with the hairspring or balance wheel and you’ll wind up getting a watch that runs too fast or too slow… Consequently, in conditions where the view is exposed to a magnetic field, components of this watch can be magnetized and thus be disrupted.It is in this context that various manufacturers began exploring how to attain watches that could resist such areas. IWC was the first to release a widely accessible watch resistant to magnetic fields using its aptly called Ingénieur model. Not to be outdone, at the exact same time-frame, Rolex also published its own magnetic-resistant watch: the Rolex Milgauss 50th Anniversary Replica (from the French “mille” and Gauss, so resistant to 1000 Gauss). James Stacey recently covered some newly announced Ingénieur pieces by IWC, to be released in 2013: the year of this Ingénieur for IWC.The basic innovation in the Rolex Milgauss along with the IWC Ingénieur and other such watches is the use of a Faraday cage which encloses the movement. Very similar to how being within a plane protects you from the effects of lightning, a Faraday cage (ferromagnetic enclosure) round the movement will divert a current or magnetic field and protect and protect the entire movement, including the balance wheel and its own hairspring. While being a great innovative step in watchmaking, there is much more into the new Rolex Milgauss than simply a Faraday cage.

Obviously, the result of being subjected to so much casual or intentional magnetic fields is that anything you have on you that is sensitive to such areas will be impacted. You also don’t have to know a lot about the internal workings of a mechanical watch to realize that a magnetic field is among its enemies. Briefly, mechanical watches ( even the best ones) use a balance wheel containing a hairspring that’s used to regulate the movement, it is the watch’s heartbeat, if you may. Mess with the hairspring or balance wheel and you’ll wind up getting a watch that runs too fast or too slow… Therefore, in situations where the view is exposed to a magnetic field, elements of the watch can be magnetized and thus be disrupted.It is in this context that various manufacturers started exploring how to achieve watches that could resist such fields. IWC was the first to release a broadly accessible watch resistant to magnetic fields with its aptly named Ingénieur version. Not to be outdone, in that same time-frame, Rolex also published its magnetic-resistant view: the Rolex Milgauss (from the French “mille” and Gauss, thus resistant to 1000 Gauss). James Stacey recently covered a set of recently announced Ingénieur bits by IWC, to be published in 2013: the year of this Ingénieur to get IWC.The basic invention in both the Rolex Milgauss and the IWC Ingénieur and other such watches would be the use of a Faraday cage that encloses the movement. Similar to how being inside a plane protects you from the consequences of lightning, a Faraday cage (ferromagnetic enclosure) round the movement will divert a present or magnetic field and protect and protect the entire motion, for example, balance wheel and its hairspring. While being a great innovative step in watchmaking, there is much more into the new Rolex Milgauss than just a Faraday cage.